Asda increases share plan take up by 45%

The number of employees taking part in Asda’s share plan has increased by 45% over the last five years.

There were 26,212 members of staff enrolled in the share plan in 2010, which had increased to 38,100 at the end of August 2015.

The employer boosted take-up in the scheme, which is administered by Computershare, by adopting a total engagement strategy with tailored, continual and clear communication with staff. This included digital communications, posters and teaser campaigns. The organisation also sent a Christmas postcard to employees’ homes to highlight the scheme.

Before designing publicity campaigns for the share plans, Asda carried out face-to-face research with a broad section of its workforce to make sure the share plan, and the communication around it, was as effective as possible.

The retailer also gives employees who participate in the scheme an online savings calculator to help them to experiment with different contribution levels and see how these affected potential savings.

Simon Bell, senior manager, reward at Asda, said: “Fostering employee share ownership is at the very heart of our business.

“The commitment and hard work of colleagues is fundamental to our achievements, and that means looking after them as part of the Asda family, rewarding them in as many ways as possible and encouraging them to feel they have a direct stake in the success of the business.

“Staff also told us that they frequently make decisions based upon endorsement by their peers. That meant drawing on real-life examples and anecdotes from colleagues in each part of the business to better reflect the experience of their peer group. For example, in terms of the amounts they were likely to save and their aspirations on maturity.”